Greetings Fellow Travelers ...
I know someone who is, what I call, a professional victim. Do you know anyone like this?
This person has exacted worlds of pain and grief on myself and has ruined the lives of people dear to me just to maintain the role of victim. Instead of forging ahead and making progress, these folks have opted to whine and cry and blame their problems on everything and everyone else in the universe.
The problem? That is NOT how one gets ahead in this world.
Each of us must make an accurate assessment of our lives in order to achieve our dreams. But, when your dream is to sit back and take NO responsibility for yourself and play the victim- continuously- and recruit others to do the same, you throw away the essential elements needed for success.
Initiative- Professional victims are bottom feeders who sit and wait for sustenance to waft down to them. Unlike people with an actual crisis to deal with, a PV will put on an act, refusing to use any and all resources available to them in order to propagate the "victim" ruse.
But the reward is there, because people see them as victims, and give them help. Their pitiful and decrepit performance is rewarded, and initiative dies. Success is measured by donations and other freebies, rather than by accomplishment.
Drive- What motivates you? What prompts you to go to work? What if you could lower your standards to the "just getting by" level, on purpose, and then "squeak by" by simply pasting a sad, helpless look on your face, would you do it?
The PV would, and does. Having an actual drive to excel would devastate the lifestyle of the PV. Wanting to make your own way would eliminate the ability to quit a job just so you could sleep late. Setting up your own carrot to follow would take you right out of the realm of the victim.
Stability- Everyone needs a soft place to land after being out in the world all day. We have a good chance of achieving our dreams if we first have a dream, then the initiative to pursue that dream, the drive to overcome obstacles in the way of our dream, and some stability to provide security that will allow us to take a chance.
But if our livelihood depends on peoples generosity toward the unfortunate, then we MUST remain unfortunate. Any achievements would undermine what we have so pitifully avoided any inconvenience for.
As you probably have guessed, this is a rant, a vent of nuclear proportions. Someone very dear to me has been duped into this lifestyle, likely for the perceived "convenience" of self-inflicted poverty. It is a heartbreaking and grossly depressing scenario that makes me literally hate the person responsible.
But then, these folks have volunteered for this. I am hated and ostracized because of my pro-work and self-motivating mindset. The way I see it , the secret lies in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, namely, a time and place for everything.
Here is a paraphrased version.
A time to work and a time to play
A time to give and a time to receive
A time to be a victim (an actual victim)
A time to help out a victim (an actual victim)
But never a time to make a vocation out of being a victim.
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